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Anthony Stewart Head is an actor who portrayed Rupert Giles and his Wishverse counterpart on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series.

Career[]

Head was educated at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA). His first role was in the musical Godspell; this led to roles in television on both BBC and ITV, one of his earliest being an appearance in the series Enemy at the Door (ITV, 1978–1980). In the early 1980s he sang with the band Red Box. In the late 1980s, he appeared in a storyline series of twelve coffee commercials with Sharon Maughan for Nescafé Gold Blend; a version made for the US featured the American brand name Taster's Choice. The soap opera nature of the commercials brought him wider recognition, along with a part in the Children's ITV comedy drama Woof!

Head played Frank N Furter in the 1990–91 West End revival of The Rocky Horror Show at London's Piccadilly Theatre, with Craig Ferguson as Brad Majors. In 1991 Head's rendition of "Sweet Transvestite" was released as a single by Chrysalis Records. Head played the role again in the summer of 1995 at London's Duke of York's Theatre, a May 2006 tribute show at London's Royal Court Theatre, and a October 2000 production at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas).

Success on the stage and a number of brief appearances on American television, such as in the short-lived VR.5, led to accepting the role of Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 1997. For this role he lived full-time in the United States during the late 1990s and early 2000s, although his family continued to live in the UK. Head left the regular cast of Buffy during the show's sixth season and subsequently appeared several times as a guest star through the conclusion of the series. In many interviews at the time, Head said he left the show in order to spend more time with his family, having realized that he had spent most of the year outside England, which added up to more than half his youngest daughter's life.

In 2002, he co-starred in the BBC Two television series Manchild, a show centered around four friends approaching their fifties who try to recapture their fading youth and vitality while dealing with life as "mature" men. He also appeared in guest roles in various other dramas, such as Silent Witness, Murder Investigation Team, and Spooks. He appeared in the 4th series of the British hit sitcom My Family in 2003 playing one of the main character's (Abi's) father in the episode "May the Best Man Win." He was featured as the Prime Minister in the popular BBC comedy sketch show Little Britain from 2003 to 2005, and guest starred in several episodes of the 2004 series of popular drama Monarch of the Glen.

In 2001, he appeared in a special webcast version of the popular British science fiction series Doctor Who, a story called "Death Comes to Time," in which he played the Time Lord Valentine. He also guest starred in the Excelis Trilogy, a series of Doctor Who audio adventures produced by Big Finish Productions, and in 2005 narrated the two-part documentary Project: WHO?, detailing the television revival of the series, for BBC Radio 2 (and released to CD in 2006 by BBC Audio). In April 2006 he appeared as an alien school headmaster, Mr. Finch, in an episode of the second series entitled "School Reunion." Soon after, he recorded an abridged audio book of the Doctor Who novel The Nightmare of Black Island by Mike Tucker. He narrated the third and fourth series of Doctor Who Confidential. He also voiced the character Baltazar, Scourge of the Universe (an evil space pirate searching for the Infinite), in the first ever animated Doctor Who special, "The Infinite Quest." Head had previously auditioned for the role of the Eighth Doctor for the 1996 television movie, but lost out to Paul McGann.

In early 2006, he appeared in an episode of Hotel Babylon, a BBC One drama set in a hotel, in which he played a suicidal man who recovers and lands a music deal. The same year he filmed a pilot for a new show entitled Him and Us, loosely based on the life of openly gay rock star Elton John, for American TV channel ABC, co-starring Kim Cattrall. In July he appeared as Captain Hook at the Children's Party at the Palace, a live pantomime staged in the grounds of Buckingham Palace as part of Queen Elizabeth II's 80th birthday celebrations. In October 2006, he voiced Ponsonby, leader of MI6, in Destroy All Humans! 2.

Outside of television work, he released in 2002 an album of songs with musician George Sarah entitled Music for Elevators. Early in his career he provided vocals for some of the tracks on the Chris de Burgh album The Getaway and the reading from The Tempest on "Don't Pay The Ferryman."

At Comic-Con International in 2007, Joss Whedon said talks were almost completed for a 90-minute Buffy the Vampire Slayer spin-off, Ripper, as a BBC special, with both Head and the BBC on board.

In 2007, he portrayed Stockard Channing's gay brother in the English film Sparkle and appeared as Mr Colubrine in the ITV1 comedy drama Sold. Head also appeared as Sir Walter Elliot in Persuasion. Head also narrated a BBC behind-the-scenes programme for the American television series Heroes, Heroes Unmasked. He has also been seen as Maurice Riley in the BBC Drama The Invisibles alongside Warren Clarke.

After seeing Anthony Head in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical episode, "Once More, with Feeling," Saw director Darren Lynn Bousman cast him in his 21st century rock opera, Repo! The Genetic Opera.

Head has also performed for radio, taking two of the lead roles — arch-villain Mr. Gently Benevolent, and his descendant, journalist Jeremy Sourquill — in the BBC Radio 4 comedy series, Bleak Expectations (four series, 2007–2010). He was part of the regular cast of the BBC drama series Merlin, playing King Uther Pendragon, the father of Prince Arthur. He also provided voice-over work in the Nintendo Wii video game Flip's Twisted World, developed by Frozen North Productions.

Head returned as Giles in the Audible audio series Slayers: A Buffyverse Story.

Buffyverse credits[]

Actor[]

Head was a regular in the first five seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, then was credited as Special Guest Star in the remaining two seasons. He appeared in a total of 121 episodes of the series portraying Rupert Giles, appearing as well as his counterpart Giles from an alternative timeline in the episode "The Wish."

Soundtrack[]

In addition to the songs he performed in the musical episode "Once More, with Feeling," Head sang a number in the episode "Restless" and a track for the episode "Passion."

Voice actor[]

Head reprised his role as Giles voicing him in two Buffy video games, in the pilot for the undeveloped Buffy the Animated Series, and in seven episodes of Slayers: A Buffyverse Story. He additionally voiced the alternative reality character Ripper.

Featurettes[]

Head appears in the following Buffy featurettes:

Writer[]

Head provided the foreword for the reference book Demons of the Hellmouth: A Guide for Slayers by Rupert Giles.

Gallery[]

Head behind the scenes for Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

External links[]

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